So what will be the key focus of lifestyle technology in the coming years? Millionaire magazine looked into the future with a group of leading technology experts – Kjaer Global was one of them.

Q: WHAT ARE THE EMERGING KEY TRENDS IMPACTING OUR WORK / LIFE?

STRATEGIC BIG DATA: The Internet of Things is already here and, by 2020, over 30 billion things will be connected. As data flow increases Big Data meets ‘Social’ data and becomes more strategic and manageable as new software and tools emerge to predict behaviour and buying trends.CROWD-FUNDING PLATFORM: Globally CFPs are accelerating with a growth of 60% since last year. Crowdsourcing.org breaks these down into four categories: Donation-Based, Reward-Based (majority), Lending-Based and Equity-Based. Soon, we will all be able to own a share in the startups we buy from.

EDUCATION 4.0: MOOCS (Massive Open Online Course) and Social media coursework at universities will be the norm. Mobile Education will lead to a major transformation of the education landscape with mEducation products and services representing a $38 billion market opportunity by 2020. >>E-HEALTH: Healthcare Apps, Mobile Diagnostics and Intuitive Bio Feedback will explode, with healthcare professionals becoming involved in design and monitoring. By 2020, chronic diseases could account for almost 75% of all deaths worldwide: ischaemic heart disease (IHD), stroke and diabetes is set to increase in developing countries.

You may be knowing your A’s and B’s and C’s, but are you educated or just literate? No rolling your eyeballs please, there is a difference. Literacy is knowing how to read and write. Education is to be able to reason, to use your ability to read and write to your benefit and to be able to gain your spectrum of knowledge by trying to surge deeper into the literate knowledge imparted to you. We’ve had debates innumerable about why is it important for every country to increase the literacy rates of its citizens, but is merely doing that enough? No, we do not need just literate citizens, but educated ones too. We do not want to be a group of people who can read and write but make nothing out of it. Wondering what education makes of us? It makes us human, a robot can read and write to, but reason? Here are reasons why education is extremely important.

Do you know that the societal segments were based more on your education than economic worth, just economically better off could afford better education too. Women were the aliens of the already alienated because they weren’t seen as able to mingle in a society where reasoning happened. It is extremely important that you be at par with the knowledge database to be able to mingle in a certain societal setting without being made to feel embarrassed or an outcast. Education helps you broaden that spectrum of knowledge and hold your own mind and reason.

Embarking on any new language can be a daunting task. It’s taking on a fundamental life skill – a skill most of us can barely remember learning the first time around. The entire process of learning a language is complex and fraught with difficulty – and English, supposedly, is particularly difficult for non-native speakers, with its inconsistent rules and idiosyncrasies.

No language can be learned overnight, and there is no magic fix. But with a few straightforward steps, and a dedicated attitude, it’s entirely possible to be competent and conversational within a few months. Learning English quickly needn’t be a headache.

Why learn English ?!

English is the true lingua franca, the world’s global language. It is the most widely used language in the world, spoken by well over a billion people in every continent. Significantly, in addition to almost 400 million native speakers, there are as many as a billion non-native speakers, suggesting that English as a second language is a vital skill for much of the world.

This is reflected in where you find English. It is a dominant language in business, science, I.T., aviation, seafaring, diplomacy, medicine, the internet, and many other industries. In an increasingly globalised world, English is expected as a basic requirement on any respectable CV – and bilingual speakers can enjoy much better employment prospects than those who speak only one language.

Learning English opens you up to masses of entertainment and arts. It’s the language of centuries of culture: of Shakespeare, Dickens and Austen; of Byron, Shelley, and Wordsworth; of Hollywood, the Beatles and Britpop.

It’s an official language of some of the largest and most important countries and organisations in the world, including the UN, the EU, the US and the UK. And as the one language to unite the world, it breaks down cultural barriers and acts as a common tongue for native and non-native speakers alike.

Learning English is a crucial step to becoming a truly ‘global citizen’. It’s a means of communicating in any country, in any part of the world.

Carry healthy snacks
Workplaces are notorious for cheap and fluffy carbohydrates (i.e. donuts, bagels, cupcakes). It is far easier to grab a bagel off the table and eat it than it is to burn it off in the gym. An easy way to prevent overeating and snacking on these refined carbohydrates in the workplace is to bring healthy snacks and have them on hand. A healthy snack is one that has both protein and fiber (i.e. Greek yogurt and raspberries, cold cut turkey and high fiber crackers or one slice of whole grain bread with almond butter). These snacks will provide your body with sustained energy and will help combat those mid-day crashes.

Find a healthy-buddy
Eating a salad during the office party may be more enjoyable if a friend is eating one as well. Dieting and exercise partners keep motivation high. Considering that typically 8-10 hours per day are spent in the workplace, a large chunk of the health decisions are, therefore, made at work. Social influences have huge effects on health behaviors, and having a close friend involved in ramping up a healthy lifestyle will not only lead to success, but may make the road to health more fun! Also consider running an office health challenge and get everyone on board.

Keep a water bottle on the desk
Without a constant reminder to drink water or without water readily accessible, people can go an entire day without fluids. Having a water bottle stationed on the desk serves not only as a reminder to drink water, but also as a visual for the amount of water consumed throughout the day. Aim to purchase a large 32 oz. water bottle, and fill it up at least twice throughout the day. This will ensure water needs are being met even if fluid intake at meals is lacking.

Create a pocket motivation reminder
As the day progresses, thoughts of health can easily slip the mind. Having a note on your desk or computer screen can help maintain focus. Examples of a “pocket motivation reminder” may be a favorite motivational quote or an old picture where a person felt happiest and healthiest. Keeping this reminder on hand, and somewhere where you will easily see it throughout the work day can be crucial during times when unhealthy decisions are appealing and simple.

Prioritize time for exercise
When employees are overworked, exercise can quickly go on the back burner. An important way to maintain an exercise regimen is to set aside the same time every day for fitness. Allow the hour of fitness to be an escape from other responsibilities. Set the time to something realistic and achievable. For instance, if a person is more nocturnal, setting a 5am workout goal is unachievable. Time and location parameters are also critical to planning. For instance “I will work out for 30 minutes by running outside” is a more efficient goal than “I will exercise more.” Specific goals demand more accountability. For many people, finding a gym that is close and accessible or prepaying for some workout classes can be the difference between achieving fitness goals and failing.

A Chicago police officer who is hospitalized after she was severely beaten said she was afraid to use her gun because of the scrutiny she would have faced, Supt. Eddie Johnson said.
On Wednesday morning, police responded to a car crash at Roosevelt and Cicero on the city’s West Side where officers encountered a man that police allege was violent and under the influence of drugs.

Three officers were hospitalized in the incident. One officer who was severely beaten told Supt. Johnson she was afraid for her life and afraid to use lethal force with all of the attention on the police department’s previous actions and fatal incidents.

“She thought she was going to die. She knew that she should shoot this guy, but she chose not to, because she didn’t want her family or the department to have to go through the scrutiny the next day on national news,” Supt. Johnson said.

A nearby business captured surveillance video of the incident. The owner didn’t see the incident firsthand, but saw how the incident unfolded on the surveillance video.

“It is terrible. It is total disregard for law enforcement. They put their lives forward every day for us and to see somebody do this, to pummel the police officer is terrible. It is a terrible thing,” business owner Louie Rainone said.

ABC7 reached out to the Fraternal Order of Police but did not get a comment.

It’s safe to say that most people want to be an educated person.Last night I was asking myself these two questions: Who is an educated person? What does someone have to know in order to be considered an educated person? Look at the following: Do you need to have an advanced degree in order to be considered well-educated?
Does it mean being prepared to join the work force, are there certain books that you have to have read?
I did some research in order to be able to answer these questions. After reading several lists of the characteristics of an educated person—including Harvard and Princeton University’s lists–I came up with the following list of the 50 characteristics of an educated person:

1. An educated person has the ability to think clearly and independently.

2. An educated person has good judgment.

3. An educated person knows how to learn.

4. An educated person knows how to acquire desired skills by identifying and utilizing available resources, deconstructing the process required for learning a particular skill, and experimenting with potential approaches.

After days of rain, a patch of blue sky is a sight for sore eyes. But why is the sky blue?

Let’s start with the Sun. Light from the Sun appears white but it actually consists of many different colours. We can see these different colours of light in a rainbow or when white light passes through prism. As the white light from the Sun travels through the Earth’s atmosphere, it collides with particles of air. The different colours, or wavelengths, of light are scattered by these collisions by different amounts. Blue light (shorter wavelengh) is scattered more than red light (longer wavelength).

So, when the Sun is high in the sky, blue light is scattered in all directions as sunlight passes through the atmosphere and we see the sky as blue.

But it’s a different case when the Sun is close to the horizon at sunset or sunrise. Sunlight from the low Sun has to pass through much more atmosphere before it reaches your eyes meaning most of the blue light has already been scattered leaving just the red. The result is the beautiful colours we see at sunset and sunrise and, very occasionally, a flash of green light.

When we see a rainbow we can see a range of colours from red (longer wavelength) through yellows and greens to blues and eventually violet (shorter wavelengths). So if shorter wavelengths are more easily scattered why don’t we see the sky as purple?

The answer lies with how our eyes react to light. Inside the eye there are two types of cells that react to light. ‘Rods’ are sensitive to brightness and three types of ‘cones’ are responsible for detecting colour. The three types of cones are sensitive to lights of certain wavelengths.

The ‘blue’ cones are more sensitive to blue than violet, so when you look up at the sky, the cones tell your brain you are seeing blue even though there is violet there.